


Ava Summary

by pilotslifeforme



Category: Tron: Uprising
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27402433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilotslifeforme/pseuds/pilotslifeforme
Summary: Here is a condensed version of my original character in the TRON franchise’s backstory.
Kudos: 9





	Ava Summary

Ava was programmed for piloting and mechanics work on light jets. In the time shortly before CLU’s takeover, a unique virus compromised her programming. After an incident in the streets of Purgos which resulted in the accidental de-resolution of a program due to Ava’s growing virus, she was put on watchlist by the notable security program, Tron, and his team. She made a run for it, hiding for several days in the alleyways and abandoned flats of the crime infested city. When the occupation began, CLU came across files referring to an unknown virus that doesn’t kill its host and progresses slowly, but is dangerous enough to shift pieces of the Grid and instantly derez programs in one touch. Intrigued, he sent a team to track down and recover the host.

He made plans to weaponise this virus, an opportunity he couldn’t pass up to improve and speed up his process of mass repurposing of programs and genocide of the ISOs. The Black Guard wound up finding Ava, taking her in to be examined by CLU’s right hand, Dyson, a former security program that was present with Tron during the Purgos Incident and created her files. On her way in, she saw through one of the holding chamber windows, Tron, being tortured by the former security program, Dyson. Pushed forward, she began to make plans to escape, and break out Tron— the Grid’s symbol of hope, and only chance at combating the occupation.

Once Dyson entered, he began a painful process of examining her intricate and complex code, and wound up accidentally expediting the virus’ progress of taking over her programming. Confused, he left the chamber to report his research, for it was unheard of for a virus to progress so slowly and not kill its host within a few cycles. Ava, now alone, pained and weakened from the examination and expedited take over, she could no longer semi-control this virus. In her panic, the virus broke through the metal restraints, and she got free, grabbing her disc and making a run for it. Taking out the two guards at the chamber door, she bolted for the next door chamber, breaking through it only to find that Tron wasn’t there. Opting to ensure her own survival, she booked it towards the only exit, an open platform for Recogniser transports. As soon as she made way out, she spotted a Recogniser headed towards Argon City, and she figured it must be Tron’s transport. But, in a matter of seconds, the transport exploded and crashed into the side of a mountain. Realising that she’d likely just seen the end of Tron, her hope was crushed. Turning to continue her escape, she spotted one of CLU’s programs, standing in shock of the recent event. After a few tense moments, the program, named Saffron, decided to aid Ava in her escape, taking her to Argon’s city limits, the edge of the Outlands.

Once there, the virus had almost entirely taken over Ava. Light marks that were once barely noticeable, now covered almost every inch of her skin and her suit’s once white and subtle yellow marks were bright yellow and orange. She knew that by venturing out into the Outlands she would die, but she’d rather that then being in captivity and weaponised against her own will. Venturing out as far as she could on her light cycle, eventually, the virus spread to her vehicle and began to tear it apart. Once well into the vicious Outlands and in the middle of a dangerous snowstorm, her light cycle dissipated and tossed her to the ground. She was far too weak to continue on. She was dying. After a solid few moments of laying defenceless, she spotted a dark figure approaching her with subtle light marks. Unable to find the energy to even get up, she decided if this was her fate, then so be it. The dark figure stood over her for a moment before kneeling down in front of her. She didn’t bother to grab her disc, she couldn’t fight.

“You’re a long way from home,” the dark figure said to her in a deep and distorted voice. Ava didn’t reply, and the figure’s helmet suddenly folded back to reveal the scarred face of a program the entire Grid, and herself, believed dead. It was Tron. He took her back to his hideout he’d modified in the side of a mountain, and managed to take a look at her disc and reverse Dyson’s expedited process, reverting the virus back to its regular slow progression. She was still very dangerous, everything she touched would either be instantly derezzed or contaminated by the virus permanently.

While she was resting, Tron approached her and informed her of what he did to her code, and she told him her predicament. Both confused by how detailed and complex the code was, he explained that it was sheer luck he managed to reverse an accidental change. This virus of unknown origin could potentially be a threat to the Grid itself, so Tron proposed she stay hidden in the hideout. He also told her that he remembered her from the Purgos Incident, that he regretted not doing more to help and understand her before things got out of hand and she ran off. With that in mind, Tron made a promise to protect her from harm, and told her he wouldn’t let CLU get his hands on her again. She agreed to stay in isolation there, she spends most of her time in a small room. She gets to come out if nobody is present other than Tron in the hideout, and after a good few cycles, she requests that Tron let her leave the hideout. But only in the Outlands, just to explore and get out of isolation for a bit— ride her lightcycle around. He hesitantly agreed, though reiterating to stay safe and be smart about things. Pleased by his approval, she left. Having made makeshift hand grips to keep the light cycle from derezzing from her virus, she took off to Argon. During her time in isolation, she managed to dance around the virus in her programming to modify a new suit for herself. A full body suit, with a sheer cloak just in case to keep herself covered and the virus marks hidden.

She then decided to locate an old friend, Saffron, the program who helped her escape captivity. Upon finding them, they caught up and Saffron forged specially designed gloves for her to use so she could function normally without the virus spreading through her hands like usual. After their meeting, she continued to make her way around Argon, observing the programs there, taking down names and locations. In different areas she’d leave messages, either stating “TRON LIVES” or strategically placed messages for the programs she documented to find.

Soon, her work became fairly well known, the emblem of Tron being found on certain things, messages being displayed on billboards, and small altercations being taken care of by a program in white, and not the Black Guard.  
Eventually, her title given to her by the programs of Argon and Purgos was “The Messenger”, an anonymous program who only very few have seen. Soon, the Messenger went quiet when the “Renegade” came into the scene, and back at the hideout Ava had no other choice but to stay hidden when Tron’s new protégé began his frequent training and visits. But Ava had figured out how to get out from her room, and continue her work as the Messenger. Many a night during Beck’s rounds as the Renegade, he’d see a figure in white and yellow on occasion, and her messages in different places. Confused by this phenomenon, Beck reported back to Tron what he’d been seeing, and the resurgence of what programs call the Messenger. Tron instructed him to approach her carefully and inquire what her motives were, but Beck insisted she be taken in, or at least her disc— because if she was for the cause, then they could use another competent recruit. Tron wasn’t too keen on the idea, but he opted to let Beck handle the situation as a sign of trust.

The Renegade went out, and eventually ran into the Messenger leaving one of her signature messages. She knew she was in trouble then, because the Renegade explained that he was going to take her somewhere just to ask some questions, and she knew exactly what would happen. She had been lying to Tron the entire time, sneaking out and also telling him she’d just be riding in the Outlands for a breather. So, she decided to fight. The two fought hard, the Messenger being the better combatant, but she did not want to unintentionally derez Beck. In that moment of hesitation, he got the upper hand and brought her in to the hideout.

Upon entering, Tron approached her and told her to reveal herself. After a few painful seconds of her having to deal with whatever reaction Tron would have to her, her helmet folded back and revealed that it was Ava the entire time. There was no look or surprise or shock on Tron’s face, just disappointment. She couldn’t look at him, and he just shook his head and turned to walk away. He told Beck to let her go, and he did, but was confused as to what was going on. Tron then explained that she lived there, in the hideout, and had to be kept a secret for Beck’s safety, the Grid’s safety, and Ava’s safety. After a few moments of tense silence, Ava opened her mouth to apologise, but Tron angrily butted in, questioning her as to why she’d put herself in such danger, why she’d leave, why she’d lie to him— and why she would put herself in a position where Tron couldn’t uphold his promise to her.

Heated, she snapped back that she was doing this for the good of the Grid, that she was doing this for him, too, and that he was always a symbol of hope for her and all programs. That people needed that hope in this occupation. They needed to know that Tron lives, and that there’s a chance to fight back...and that she wasn’t going to stop fighting back against CLU’s regime. Tron didn’t give her a response, and she just turned to look at Beck, who was still standing there as all of this went down, and simply shook her head and locked herself in her room.

Over the next few cycles, she was able to come out whenever Beck was there because he knew she existed now, but she and Tron had a terrible tension that brought both of them down. In those times, she recalled back to when she didn’t have these gloves, and she couldn’t really touch anything without her makeshift grips. Tron would frequent the healing chamber to keep his scars at bay, and she’d do the same to keep the virus from progressing too much. She’d stuck by his side through his difficult nights and rough post-healing pains, and even through the incident with Cyrus before Beck came along. She wanted so badly to be able to comfort him, and it killed her inside to see the hero of the Grid so broken, though he didn’t show it much.

Oftentimes she’d find herself waiting outside the healing chamber for him, ready to be there for when he’d either stumble and fall or just tiredly emerge, so he wasn’t alone. She found he’d do the same for her, but he was subtle. She didn’t know why he helped but tried his best to make it seem like he didn’t do anything, but she was thankful for it anyways, whenever she did see him do it. Reflecting on these times, she decided to apologise to Tron for lying and putting not only him at risk, but the millions of programs of the Grid at risk. He forgave her instantly, and they both returned to almost normal.

Later on, after Dyson’s visit to Argon and Tron’s confrontation with his former teammate and friend, her files resurfaced after Dyson was curious as to Ava’s whereabouts after her escape. He studied his own research and the documented files, and decided it was time to take action. He then remembered that he spotted one of the guard programs aiding Ava’s escape, and decided to pay them a visit. Upon this visit, he gravely injured the program, Saffron, and forced their hand into contacting Ava...using Saffron as bait to lure her out.

As soon as she received the contact, Ava snuck out one last time. She went to Saffron’s flat, in which Saffron told her she should not have come. In the dark corners of Saffron’s flat were Black Guard programs, and she didn’t even bother to defend herself. Angry and feeling as if she were betrayed by her friend, she didn’t resist being taken in.

She was taken to the lower levels of Purgos, to be readied for transport to CLU’s headquarters. During this time, news stations reported on an unknown virus being taken into custody of the Black Guard. Back in the hideout, Tron was monitoring the status of Argon and got alerted of the most recent news. Realising they’d taken Ava, and that she’d left, he was filled with anger. So, he viewed the list of contacts that Ava had compiled during her time as the Messenger that she had left in her room. Locating each contact, he took off to question each of them on Ava’s whereabouts. The last one he approached was Saffron, and they informed him of what occurred. He wasn’t so angry about Ava leaving anymore upon hearing that she left to try and save her friend, but more so that she was in CLU’s hands now...and he had failed to uphold his promise to her.

While Ava was in captivity, she was being further examined by Dyson again, this time with CLU present. During this time, CLU took advantage of the opportunity to lie to her and attempt to get her to agree to serve him as his own personal deadly weapon. He told her that she was being limited while in hiding, she was being held back from her true potential, that she was being suppressed and it all started back with the Purgos Incident. She tried her best to not believe CLU, but she remembered the big fight after Tron found out she was the Messenger, about how she always had to ask to leave, how she always had to wear those gloves, and how she wasn’t able to lead a normal life...and it was all because of this virus, and because Tron took her in and he made the decisions for her.

And that was all it took. She realised that she was being held back, and that she shouldn’t have to be. CLU opted to give her a position as a Commander, ridding Purgos of criminals with orders to derez them on sight. He took her gloves, and told her that she was free to just be herself. While she was out doing her job, Dyson explained to CLU that this virus was very deadly and its coding incredibly complex. It had never been documented before, and it wasn’t originally in her programming. Not only that, but Dyson had record of a small code in CLU’s programming that carried an immunity. CLU was immensely satisfied by this, because it meant that Ava couldn’t harm him. The downside was, there was one other program who carried this immunity. That program was Tron, but it took Dyson ages to find the strange code in CLU so it was almost guaranteed that if she were to encounter the Renegade/Tron, that she could still be a threat.

In the lower levels of Purgos, there was an altercation occurring that Ava was sent to respond to with Black Guard members. Still greatly upset and due to her intense emotions, the virus spread more...causing her to be unstable, but she hid it well. Arriving at the scene, she found a bunch of programs in an all out brawl over some sort of stimulant, and the Black Guards immediately began to derez them without orders. Shocked, she ordered them to stop but they did not. Grabbing one of the Guard’s arms, she tried to pull him back but wound up instantly derezzing him. After that, terrified, the programs took off and the Black Guard turned on her. Taking on about 40 Guard members on her own, her emotions high and anger running rampant in her, caused her instability and the virus’ effects to be way stronger. In a matter of moments, half of the Guard was wiped out, and in the middle of fighting she saw a black figure approach. The figure threw his disc, assisting in taking out the rest of the Guard members.

Knowing exactly who it was, and once the Guard members were all derezzed, she began to attack the figure, who was Tron. He refused to fight her, only deflecting her attacks with his disc. She was filled with nothing but anger and pain, CLU’s words and memories of her disdain for feeling “trapped” in the hideout, and that Tron made the decision for her to stay there and not her, and that she was robbed of ever living a normal life— she kept fighting and fighting him. Tron kept trying to convince her that it was all a lie, that he was trying to protect her— it wasn’t until Tron was finally fed up, that he threw his disc and it grazed her arm, leaving a small gash in it. She stumbled back and held her wound, in shock that he’d fought back.

He tried to tell her that he was doing this for her own good, and that he was trying to prevent what was happening right then from ever occurring. That CLU was attempting to weaponise her, and that by doing that, he would likely kill her in the process. He was trying to help her, to keep his promise. The truth was, that he cared for her, and didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. In the moment, he took her hand without any care if she derezzed him, and told her how he felt, sincerely. After that, they both realised that nothing had happened, and that he was fine. He took advantage of that moment to pull her in for a hug, showing her that he did care, and that he was capable of showing it in different ways, too.

He asked her to return “home” with him, and she agreed to. After that, she did continue her role as the Messenger, but this time not in secret from Tron. She was careful always, but he knew he couldn’t keep her from doing what she felt she needed to do, and he wasn’t going to. Not anymore. But he did study his programming to figure out why he wasn’t affected by Ava’s virus, and he discovered the immunity code. He never noticed it before, and it was placed there by Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, the Grid’s creator and his user. He explained this to Ava, and it only left her more confused as to what this virus was, and why it was in her programming.

She would soon find out, but well after CLU’s second takeover, and Tron’s repurposing to Rinzler. Her virus was planted in the Grid by Flynn as a failsafe for if things go haywire, it would cleanse a part of the Grid, if not all. If the Grid were able to recognise that things were not well, it would release the virus on a random program. The virus would not kill its host, rather, occupy it to spread the virus among the Grid itself and other programs, derezzing the programs. It was released prematurely, and it chose Ava. But Flynn did not want his two most trusted programs harmed by this virus, so CLU and Tron both have immunity codes.


End file.
